Letters to the Editor | Dec. 24, 2025

In your recent editorial, “Will the Philadelphia Police Department ever be free of scandal?” you provided a valuable albeit disheartening summary of the examples of police misconduct and corruption that surfaced in 2025. These recent events are part of “a systemic problem that has undermined the department for decades” and underscored the need for independent accountability. Our organization, the Citizens Police Oversight Commission (CPOC), has not conducted any police investigations because the police employment contract remains an obstacle to our efforts. Despite our public advocacy before City Council, broad support from lawmakers, community partners, and the public, and our groundbreaking testimony at the interest arbitration hearing, CPOC’s demand to carry out our public mandate was denied.

Each day, when Philadelphians call us to report misconduct — as they do in increasing numbers every year — they expect us to investigate their complaints. They are let down when we have to tell them we can’t.

Until we can perform the independent investigations Philadelphians voted for in 2020, the systemic misconduct of a small number of police officers will continue to plague the department and detract from the good work of many other officers. A fair and effective system of accountability is vital to any agency.

We will continue to work — including performing real-time audits of the department’s internal investigations of police misconduct and exposing the problems with arbitration you mentioned in the editorial. We will work to reduce and address misconduct in the months and years to come, so that community trust can be built, wrongful convictions will be a thing of the past, and taxpayers will not pay such a high price for a failed system.

Tonya McClary, Citizens Police Oversight Commission, Philadelphia

Who are the arbitrators who continue to let corrupt cops keep their jobs? And who is going to organize an effort to get them to change? It sounds counterintuitive, but shouldn’t the police union want to get rid of the rotten apples who make taxpayers question the integrity of police officers in general?

Debbie Weiner, Quakertown

Your recent editorial about police misconduct raised several questions: Are members of the Citizens Police Oversight Commission being paid? If so, where does the money come from? How often do they meet? Why, in three years, has there not been one investigation? Why is the committee still in existence? Doesn’t anyone oversee them?

By the way, I am definitely pro-police, my husband having served on the job for 38 years.

And I have one more question: When will there be an investigation into the sheriff’s office? From the articles I’ve seen over the years, it appears that a serious look at what’s happening there is certainly needed.

Florence Newman, Philadelphia

Your editorial questioned whether the Philadelphia Police Department will ever be free of scandal. The answer is no — at least for the foreseeable future. The underlying causes started well before the current commissioner. Issues with arbitration have been long-standing, and the city never seems to confront them during contract negotiations.

The biggest issue, as the article pointed out, is recruitment. Lowering standards and the de-emphasis on education have hurt the department immeasurably. Many recruits have high school degrees, but can’t really read, write, or comprehend at a high school level. Understanding the laws of arrest, search and seizure, and the department’s voluminous directives is lost on many of them.

The promotion system — which used to be completely anonymous (you were identified only by a number) — has become politicized, resulting in less competent supervisors managing less competent cops. The mayor needs to put together a task force to propose a new way forward — something far cheaper than budgeting tens of millions of dollars on legal settlements for misconduct, which will inevitably be needed each year.

Charles Brennan, retired deputy commissioner, Philadelphia Police Department

I am thankful my family and I were able to visit most of the museums that make up the Smithsonian Institution before the Trump administration began its content review.

Once again, this administration is threatening to withhold funding unless the Smithsonian bows to the pressure to submit documentation so that this administration can purge “improper ideology” from the museum system. Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14253, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” is an attempt to rewrite what history can be shared with the public. It is a disgraceful attempt to remove and rewrite history in exhibits that target works and content mentioning slavery, race, transgender identity, and immigration. So instead of this nation learning from our errors of the past, we just rewrite history and never acknowledge these actions? How is this “restoring truth”?

The Smithsonian Institution has served our country as an independent and nonpartisan institution for nearly 180 years. It needs to stay that way. Call your members of Congress to object to this administration’s attempts to rewrite history by bullying the Smithsonian Institution and other museums and historical exhibitions, including the President’s House Site on Independence Mall, which attempts to share nonpartisan, historically accurate information.

This administration is now increasing its threats and pressure on institutions as the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration approaches. Use your voice before it is too late, and this administration purges what it — and only it — decides is “woke” ideology.

An easy way to contact your senators and representatives is to use the 5Calls app, which is free, provides quick access, information on topics, and even scripts for your calls.

Every voice counts. Please help block this administration’s efforts to rewrite our history.

Judy Endicott, Fort Washington

Adding Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center is an insult to John F. Kennedy, who, like our current president, came from a prominent family but instead devoted his life to serving others, not himself. During World War II, when Kennedy was disqualified from the Army due to his back problems, he enlisted in the Naval Reserves by downplaying those problems. He asked to be sent into active combat zones, subsequently becoming a decorated war hero. Always forward-thinking, Kennedy supported civil rights as president and paved the way for the U.S. to be the first to land men on the moon. Kennedy sought every opportunity to serve the American people. Trump, on the other hand, evaded military service, believing it beneath him. He is a backward-thinking man, rejecting science and concentrating on reversing scientific, economic, and social progress. Trump has exploited his position to enrich himself and his family by many millions, ignoring all laws and norms meant to prevent that. The Kennedy Center was built to honor one man, and Trump’s name does not belong on it.

Jean A. Kozel, West Norriton

I found it a bit ironic — and more than a little depressing — to learn that while our justice system is regularly being made a mockery of by baseless indictments filed by White House lawyers, the federal courts locally have disbarred an attorney who sought to overturn a death sentence.

Mike Carroll, Philadelphia

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